It is already known to have on missiles, aircraft and similar mechanisms, wings which can be moved from a stowed to an active position or from a trailing to an extended position, the purpose generally being to allow the wings to be positioned according to requirements, such as in the case of navy planes where it is necessary to fold the wings or in the case of high speed aircraft where it is necessary to use swing wings. It is thus known to so mount the wings on the fuselage or body of a missile that they can be variously positioned according to requirements.
Typical examples of movable wings are shown in the following United States patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,572,421 Abel, which shows an aircraft with a fixed stub wing supporting a main wing section through pivoting means which allow the wing to be rotated through 90.degree. and then swing back to lie parallel to the fuselage. This folding is not possible in flight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,403 Chiquet, which uses a wing hinged directly to the fuselage about a vertical pivot and provided with hydraulic means to allow the wing to be extended or folded back along the fuselage, the purpose however being to reduce overall width when the aircraft moves along a narrow path when not airborne.
It is also known in modern high speed aircraft to use such an arrangement to allow the wings to be swept back in flight for greater aerodynamic efficiency at high speeds yet, when extended, to allow reasonably low landing speeds.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,485,163 Braun, which is a relatively early Patent, dated 1924, and has a stub wing mounted on the fuselage by means of a hinge arranged longitudinally on the fuselage, and has an outer wing section joined to it by a vertical pivot pin, the object being stated to be to provide wings which can be folded similarly to the wings of birds. The earlier specification includes bracing means to cause both wings to be positioned similarly. Reference is also made to the folding facility being useful in transporting of flying machines and to give improving storage. The specification also refers to increasing possible wing spread. The hinging both of the stub wing to the fuselage and the outer wing post to the stub wing is by single hinge means not suitable in modern missiles and high speed aircraft and the wings are not shaped to facilitate folding against the body nor to follow body contours, and use a special construction which simulates feathers as without these the folding would not generally be possible.